Improvement in railway-car lifters



' J! n. IMBODEN.

RAILWAY-CAR LIFTER.

N0.170,374. Patented Nov. 23,1875.

WITNESSES JOHN D. IMBODEN, or RICHMOND, VA., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE RICHMOND GAR-LIFTER COMPANY.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAlLWAY-CA R LIFTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 170,374, dated November 23, 1875; application filed 1 September 25, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JoHN 'D. IMBODEN, of

-Richmond, in the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented a new and Improved Oar-Lifter; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a side, and Fig. 2 an end elevation.

The invention relates to the employment of means for transferring loaded cars from trucks of one width to another, in order to accommodate different track-gages.

The invention will first be described, in connection with drawing, and then pointed out in the claims.

A represents a pit, in which I secure rigidly the inclines B B under the rails of track. O is a truck-frame, provided With ordinary car-wheels that travel with their flanges on the inside of the incline track I), and are placed at a distance apart equal to ordinary width of the track-rails. Connected with the truck-frame O are Stirrups D, which receive the brace E and the forked pitman E pivoted to the cross-head F of a piston-rod, G. This truck-frame may thus be readily moved up the inclines by steam or any other suitable motive power. A steam-cylinder, H, for this special purpose, should be surrounded by a non-heat-conductin g jacket or steam-reservoir, I, of about eight times the capacity of cylinder where a single car is to be lifted. This enables a suflicient pressure of steam to be kept up during the intervals between the lifts of successive cars (say fifty or sixty pounds pressure) by a very small boiler, while at the same time the piston-cylinder is always retained at such a temperature that condensation of steam within it cannot take place. Of course the condensation that takes place within the jacket will not be detrimental, and-the product may be readily drawn ofi" at the bottom. On the cross-beams c of the truck-frame I bolt an iron deck-beam, c, which moves between the fianges of wheels I, that are secured in the bottom of lifting-frame K. The latter has crutches L, that fit against the bottom of side sills of freight or other cars, and move up perpendicularly between guide-rolls It It. The crutches L are jointed at Z to allow them to be turned back out of the wa-yof the steps of cars. The lifting-frame cannot move horizontally, owing to the guide-rollers, which are fixed in the pit-bridge over the machine, and work against the upright crutches. It is obvious when the lifting-truck is drawn toward the cylinder, the deck-beam rises and lifts the top frame vertically, which, in its turn,carries up the crutches under the side sills of the car body, and lifts the latter off its truck, holding it till the steam is allowed to escape from the cylinder by the exhaust-valves. The crutches are jointed, so that they may be thrown back and down out of the way of the car when it is being run in place on the pit-bridge. These crutches are furnished with an iron shoe on top to receive hard-wood Wedges of various thicknesses to accommodate the machine to a high or low car. The grooved guide'rollers are fixed in the railroad-bridge floor to prevent oscillation of the lifting-deck, whi h is d by a guide-bar on the crutches working in these rollers. compressed air to operate the piston being so large, a very small boiler will suffice to operate the machine, and may be located at some distance from the pit. Another advantage of this jacket-reservoir is that it will always keep the cylinder hot, and thus prevent c0ndensation in it while the piston is holding up the car. It is obvious that by suitable connections a whole train or parts thereof may be lifted simultaneously. Of course the wedge may be made movable under :the wheels of truck-frame, if preferred, the rollers being stationary.

It will be seen that the mechanism of this lifter is very simple. A pit is prepared under the railway-track, on the floor of which a strong frame is placed. On this frame as many inclines are erected as the length of the machines may require. in practice it will be found that there should be one incline for every fifteen feet of length of the machine. The height of these inclines is about two feet, that being sufficient to lift out the center-pin or king-bolt that unites the car body with its The reservoir for steam or trucks. On these inclines a truck is placed, with suhjacent wheels or rollers. On top of this lifting-truck is laid a strong frame, as wide and as long as the sub-frame which supports the inclines. This upper frame being level, it is obvious that when down the space between it and the inclines, viewed horizontally, is a wedge. The double rollers of the lifting-truck form the butt-end of this wedge,

and when drawn in separate the two frames. Now, as the lower frame is fixed on the floor of the pit, and cannot yield, the upper one alone can move, and it goes vertically up; and by means of simple posts or crutches, ex' tending from it to the bottom of the car body, the latter will be lifted as long as the truck moves. The lifting-truck, with its rollers, (the wedge,) is. drawn up the inclines by a common cylinder and piston, operated by steam, compressed air, or water, or a screw,

or the rope and pulley may be used. For quick work the cylinder, with an elastic motor, is preferable to all others.

Having thus described my invention, what.

I claim as new is-- l. The combination of inclines in a pit,

under rail-track, and a movable truck-frame,

with a vertically-movable lifting-frame, as and for the purpose described.

2. A lifting-frame, provided with crutches L, having the jointl, as and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, with an engine crosshead, F, of the pitman E, andstirrups D, ap-

plied inconnection with a lifting apparatus,

as and for the purpose described.

J. D. IMBODEN. Witnesses:

SOLON G. KEMON, CHAS. A. PETTIT. 

